Students organize "Everyone Deserves a Coat" project

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Lycoming College students recently organized "Everyone Deserves a Coat," a class project aimed at providing winter clothing to those in need in the Williamsport area. The students were members of a Judaic studies course taught by Dr. Pamela Gaber, professor of archaeology and religion.

Thanks to the support of the campus community, the Temple Beth Ha-Sholom of Williamsport and the United Church of Christ in Stroudsburg, the students were able to donate more than 200 coats, in addition to hats, gloves and scarves, to the local Salvation Army.

Cori Mancuso, a student in the course who organized the drive, says the class envisioned the project after study the phrase "Tikkun Olam," which literally means "world repair."

"Judaism uses this phrase to signify the act of social justice and personal responsibility in repairing the world we live in," says Mancuso. "As a class project, we wanted to make 'Tikkun Olam' into a reality."